The president of the Waste Management Monitoring Committee (CAGER), Simão Pires, defended this Tuesday “clear incentives” for the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), with one of the lowest recycling rates in Europe .
The official, who was speaking in the parliamentary committee on the Environment, said that the handling of this type of waste needs more “financial provision”so that there is an incentive for the collection and treatment to be carried out lawfully.
Simão Pires defended that there must be an increase in financial contributions to citizens and market agents and highlighted the role that an incentive could play in the deposit of WEEE.
The retail network of such equipment, he said, is not aware, nor is it qualified, nor is it mobilized for this collection work, he said, speaking at a hearing requested by the PS and the PSD, that I have been hearing from various entities about the WEEE issue.
The problem is that Portugal’s goal is to collect and treat 65% of the average weight of equipment placed on the market and achieve a recycling rate of only 32%.
At this Tuesday’s hearing, Simão Pires began by highlighting that the flow of WEEE is deficient and explained it with numbers.
In 2019 the goal was to collect 45%. 204 thousand tons of electrical and electronic equipment were placed on the market, the managing entities budgeted the collection of 92 thousand tons, but they only collected 34 thousand.
The CAGER president added that the situation worsened in 2020 and 2021, with an increase in the tons of products placed on the market (212,000 and 230,000), but with no correspondence in the proceeds.
In 2020, the entities budgeted the collection of 49 thousand tons and actually collected 28 thousand, and the following year, of the 42 thousand tons budgeted, he stayed for 29 thousand.
The CAGER is made up of some fifty entities and is an advisory body whose objective is to support the Government in the formulation of policies related to waste management.
Source: Observadora
